Glasgow Hotels have record December thanks to city's world-class events

00:01, 22 Jan 2015

ByKatrina Tweedie

HIGH-PROFILE concerts at The Hydro and Glasgow events such as the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year Awards helped boost hotel revenue at the end of 2014.

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The Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow

GLASGOW
hotels had a record December thanks to world-class events that pushed up room rates.

Strong demand for accommodation was evident during the first half of the month as the city played host to a number of events including the World Cup Gymnastics and the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards
.

Other high-profile concerts at the SSE Hydro, such as Status Quo, Andre Rieu and Jools Holland also helped boost revenue.

Although room occupancy decreased slightly room rates were up by a solid 6.3 per cent compared to December 2013.

As a result, revenue per available room (RevPAR), the industry’s main performance measure, rose by 4.7 per cent to £45.12, which marked the 13th consecutive month of RevPAR growth in the city, according to tourism market specialists LJ Research.

The year bowed out in style as city centre hoteliers sold 85 per cent of their rooms and achieved double-digit growth in average room rate for Hogmanay
.

Nigel Young

The SSE Hydro has also helped boost revenue

Sean Morgan, Managing Director of LJ Research, said: “Even though fewer rooms were sold, December was another positive month for Glasgow hotels as yields increased to record high levels.

“Glasgow recorded exceptional hotel performance throughout 2014 driven by a range of factors, including the Commonwealth Games and a host of other high-profile leisure and business events throughout the year.

“Glasgow hoteliers will reflect very positively on the year as a whole as both room occupancy and room rate growth was achieved with the latter growing by around 15 per cent.”

Scott Taylor, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said: “The hotel sector is recognised as the bellwether for tourism and nowhere in Scotland has tourism performed so spectacularly well.

“Hotel revenues grew significantly across the whole of 2014 and not just the 11 days of the Commonwealth Games
. As a city with a track record in overachieving, hotel brands and investors are now buzzing about Glasgow like wasps in a jar.